The Last Year
by Empress Nadine
Summary: Post HBP. The Trio's last year at Hogwarts, told from both Hermione and Ron's point of view. This year will bring many more deaths, and the hardest decision Ron's ever had to make. Will be RHG. Please R&R.
1. The Graveyard

_Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, and I didn't create any of the characters, no matter how much I wish I did. That honour all goes to Ms. Rowling._

_A/N: Here's my first serious fanfic, the first one I've ever written. Anyway, this is just after Dumbledore has been killed, and I'd just like to note that Voldemort knew nothing about the unbreakable vow Snape and Narcissa made, at least right now. And I don't really think Snape is evil, but right now it's what JKR wants us to think, so I'll go along with it. So please R&R!_

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**Chapter 1 - The Graveyard**

An eerie wind blew through the dark June night. Rustling the leaves of a willow tree, it passed through a nearby graveyard, giving the cemetary an even more foreboding feeling than it already had.

It was on nights like this that no one in their right minds would dare visit the cemetary. It just became too creepy.

However, tonight there was a small group of people in black cloaks making their way up one of the paths in the cemetary. All of them were hooded, save for the tall man leading them. You couldn't see his face though. All you could see was the shoulder-length black hair and the long pale nose creeping out of it...

"At what time did the Dark Lord say he'd be apparating?" He questioned to the hooded figure behind him. "He said at midnight, Snape," a raspy voice replied. "And he will not be happy with the...circumstances."

"And you know this...how?" Snape questioned smoothly.

"You-!" But the man was cut off by the sudden appearance of the pale, red-eyed, snake-face person who had just appeared, out of nowhere in front of them; Lord Voldemort.

"My Lord," the man with the raspy voice whispered, and knelt into a bow. The rest of the death eaters followed suite.

"So I see that Dumbledore has been killed," the red eyes gleamed triumphantly, "You have done well. Severus."

"Bu-but, Malfoy was supposed to kill him!" burst out the raspy-voiced wizard.

"Silence Amycus. You will speak when it is wanted." The Dark lord glared down at the shorter wizard bowing before him, causing him to sink into an even lower bow.

"Yes, I have told everyone that it was to be Draco who would kill Dumbledore. Draco even though so himself. The fool, as if an underage wizard could be capable of doing that." His red eyes laughed at the thought of this. "No, I had a real plan, Draco was just the distraction I needed to carry it out. Severus was the tool for the success of this plan.

As you all know, Severus was one of the people Dumbledore trusted. I had him tell Dumbledore that Draco was going to kill him. That fool," Voldemort scoffed, "Always trusting what Severus said.

He was, therefore, unprepared for it to be Severus who killed him. Although we no longer have a spy at Hogwarts, I am going to be sending Draco back as a new one for his final year at Hogwarts. Not many people shall know he's on our side."

"But Harry Potter knows!" burst out another cloaked figure. " And you know he's gonna tell everyone!"

"You think then, Alecto, that I'm not intelligent enough to have seen this?" hissed Voldemort angrily. "Draco will tell everyone that he was under the Imperius Curse, and display a new attitude that will convince most that he has and never will be on our side. Although this plan looks like it can easily be broken, I know it'll be affective. Draco is still, after all, a boy, and people are weak, they will be willing to believe a young child grieving over what he has done in the past.

Draco shall gain my trust playing this role. If he can't play this role affectively, well, you know what hapens to those who can't gain my trust." Voldemort sneered at the circle of death eaters around him, causing most of the to cower in fright.

"Now, as for, Harry Potter. Severus," he commanded, "You will inform me of all that has happened to him this past year. With Dumbledore gone, he will be easier to get to. I especially want to hear about all the people he's close too, and know all about them. We shall begin the downfall of the "Chosen One" there."

The Dark Lord's eyes turned to slits as he began listening to all Snape had to say. Slowly, a smile began to form on his face, and a plan sprung to his mind.

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_So how was it? Hopefully I'll be done Chapter 2 in a few days, so I'll post it then!_


	2. Various Thoughts

_A/N: Hey, thanks for the reviews! I feel loved! Anyway, all the words in italics are thoughts, just thought I'd point that out, anyway, enjoy!_

**Chapter 2 - Various Thoughts**

As the sun rose, the loud call of the rooster filled the Burrow, causing Hermione to wake with a start. Cursing the rooster, she glanced at the clock next to her bed. _5:00! Why did roosters have to make noise so early? And why did the Weasley's even need a bloody rooster?_

Muttering many not-so-nice words under her breath, Hermione turned over to try and get back to sleep. It wasn't much use though. For the next half hour, she kept tossing and turning, trying to find a way to keep the morning light now inching through the window away from her face. Finally she just gave up, and started thinking about all that had happened since Dumbledore's funeral.

It had been two weeks since she, Ron, and Harry had left on the Hogwarts Express. Harry had returned to the Dursleys', doing as Dumbledore had wanted. He was going to be coming to the Burrow in a week, just in time for Bill and Fleur's wedding on Sunday. Hermione grimaced. This is going to be a long week, she thought.

For the past two weeks that Hermione had been at the Burrow (she had gone home for only one week), Fleur had been most unbearable. She would spend every day working on the last details of her wedding, and then complain about how it would be a disaster, and no one would come. Everyone would then try to convince her that this wasn't so, and then Fleur would flare up and say they knew absolutely nothing about weddings. Even offering some help could have you get your head bitten off. Needless to say, this last week before the wedding was going to be awful.

_I can't even really avoid her either_, Hermione thought, _I should never have said I haven't gotten a dress yet. Now SHE'S gonna choose my dress, because according to her, it'll be a tragedy if my dress doesn't match the friggin' flowers at the wedding. Well, at least Ginny's stuck in this with me as well, I'd hate being in this alone. _

Ginny, who at this moment was sleeping soundly in the bed across from Hermione, the rooster having no affect on her, was just as stuck in this whole planning the wedding business as Hermione. Probably more stuck, as Fleur was going to become her new sister-in-law. Mrs. Weasley had so far made her order the flowers, and months before during the school year, do the invitations. Ginny had not been in a good mood at all for the summer. She now was getting her bridesmaid dress altered some more, because Fleur had wanted to add some other thing to it. Ginny feared that she'd look absolutely hideous in the dress, and dreaded wearing it.

Basically, none of the females at the Burrow were exactly happy. All of the males, however, would disappear quickly every morning and not come back until dinner, so it was assumed they were happy. None of them wanted to be involved in the wedding. This of course, made the females upset, but the males were willing to risk their wrath if it meant not helping. Even Mr. Weasley would go to work earlier than he used to, and leave it later than usual. Same went for Bill, except Fleur didn't see this as escaping, more as working harder than usual so they'd have more money for their honeymoon.

The twins, both of whom used to visit every weekend, had stopped visiting now. Ginny had questioned them about this the two times she'd visited their jokeshop, and every time they'd claim something new had exploded, and it took days to clean up.

Even Charlie, who had came from Romania for the wedding and to visit his family, was spending all his time out of the house. A lot of the time, he'd play Quidditch. Often, Ron would join him, also to get out of the house.

Hermione blushed bright red at the thought of Ron. Ever since she had came to the Burrow, Ron had avoided her. It didn't exactly upset her, she was trying to do the same thing. In fact, they hadn't really had an actual conversation since the funeral.

_The funeral._ Hermione moaned to herself at the thought. _That was so embarrassing, I cried all over him! I can't believe I basically admitted that I really like him. Maybe even love him. And to his face! At that moment! _

Many of these thoughts had run through Hermione's head over the past few weeks. She knew that he knew she liked him, and she knew he liked her. At least she thought so. Maybe. But who really knew? A lot of the time she'd get angrey first at herself, thinking that she had frightened Ron by being too emotional and upfront about her feelings. But then she'd get angry at Ron for not being able to deal with her emotions if that was what scared him away. Finally, she'd come to the conclusion that she should be angry with herself for loving, or liking, a guy with the emotional range of a teaspoon. It was just all so complicated. She knw she should talk to him, but she also didn't want to.

Glancing at the clock, Hermione realized now was an alright time to get up. It was 7:00, Mrs. Weasley would be up. _I guess I can help her make breakfast_, Hermione thought.

Feeling a bit disgusted with herself for thinking about her problems for two hours, Hermione quickly dressed and headed downstairs.

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_Please R&R!_


	3. Kitchen Chat

_A/N: Finally, I've typed this chapter up! I hope everyone likes it, although it's not my favorite. I was originally planning to have Chapter 4 as part of this chapter, but then the kitchen scene got a bit too long, and I thought I'd leave the clothes shopping for Chapter 4...anyway, enjoy!_

**Chapter 3 - Kitchen Chat**

Walking into the kitchen, Hermione yawned loudly. A loud crash sounded as a pot fell to the ground.

"Oh, it's just you, Hermione, a scared looking Molly Weasley said, picking up the pot she had dropped. "I thought - well, let's forget about it."

Hermione smiled at her reassuringly and sat down at the table. Ever since Dumbledore's death, everyone had become more fearful than before of Voldemort. Many had lost any hope at all that he could be defeated. Those few who hadn't were all resting their hopes on Harry. Hermione didn't know how Harry felt about this, but she didn't think it was the greatest feeling, and felt bad for him.

Sighing, she wondered how many would return to Hogwarts. Despite past talk of closing the school, it was going to remain opened to those who still wished to attend. Hermione was going to continue to go, as were Ron and Ginny, although their mother hadn't wanted them to. It had taken Arthur, Remus, Tonks and the rest of her sons as well as Ginny to convince her that returning to Hogwarts was right, and that Dumbledore would've wanted it. Hermione still didn't know if Harry would return, but she had a feeling he'd be there for at least part of the year.

"So why are you up so early, Hermione?" Molly asked, breaking into Hermione's thoughts.

"Oh, just the rooster. I still haven't gotten used to it."

Laughing, Molly started making pancakes. "Well, I guess they're hard to get used to. We don't even really need one, but we've had Fred for so long that I've grown quite fond of him." Noticing the expression on Hermione's face, she chuckled. "Yes, the rooster's name is Fred, and it was named after my own son. I didn't name him however; that honour went to Ginny."

"So why did Ginny name him after her brother?" Hermione questioned, a smile on her face.

"Well, we first got him when he wandered into our yard one day, and he appeared to belong to no one, so we kept him. Ginny was seven years old, and the twins were ten. It was the summer before they were leaving for their first year at Hogwarts. Both of them, even then, were terrible pranksters," Molly remembered, a grin on her face. "The day we got the rooster, Ginny was given the job of naming it. She was angry at Fred for taking one of her dolls at the time. So out of anger, she named the rooster Fred, claiming that they should have the same names because they were exactly alike, and as ugly as each other. Naturally, she didn't realize at the time she was also insulting George."

Hermione laughed. "I bet both of them were real pleased with that."

"Pleased with what?" a voice sounded.

Both Molly and Hermione jumped, Molly because of her fear of a death eater, Hermione because it was Ron in the doorway.

Ron surveyed the room, catching sight of Hermione, who made eye contact. The second that happened, they both immediately glanced away, Ron's ears reddening slightly.

"So, um, who was pleased with something?" Ron asked again, trying not to look at Hermione. He didn't want her catching him looking again.

"Oh, I was just telling Hermione about our rooster and how he was named," Molly replied, recovering. "He woke her up again."

"Oh." Ron sat down at the table in the seat farthest from Hermione, still not looking at her.

An awkward silence filled the room. Or at least it seemed that way to Ron and Hermione, who would take it in turns to look at one another. Molly had gone back to making breakfast. After about five minutes, Ron decided to break the silence.

"So, um, only a week left until the wedding." He said to no one in particular.

"Yes, and that reminds me, I needed to talk to you two, " Molly said, turning to look at both of them.

"About what?" They both exclaimed, looking worriedly at one another then dropping their gaze.

"There's no need to sound worried, I was just going to tell you that we'll be going with Fleur to get your wedding apparell on Wednesday. We'll be getting it at some Muggle store because Fleur wants to." Molly sniffed, apparently not pleased by this.

"But mom, I have a suit, I don't need to go." Ron looked horrified at the thought of going shopping for a suit with his mother.

"Oh yes you do Ronald," Molly eyed him sternly, "You neglected to inform me that the suit you planned to go in was at least 3 inches short on you and has holes in it."

"But it'll fit! And it looks fine, and it'll be cheaper than buying a new one!"

"It does not look fine an it will not fit! We're going to rent you one. You are going to come with us shopping to find it, and thats final, no complaining will get you anywhere, " she added as Ron opened his mouth to argue. "Also, I want you to write a speech to say at the wedding."

"Sp-Speech!" Ron spluttered. "Why can't Charlie make a speech? Or Fred? Or George? I'm not making a speech!"

"Oh yes you are," Molly continued, " Since you don't want to help plan this wedding, you're going to entertain everyone during it- "

"This is not fair!" Ron broke in, standing up angrily, "Charlie, Fred and George don't ahve to do anything! Why should I? And a speech? I'm bad at speeches!"

"You brothers have parts in the wedding," said Molly, now setting the table, "The twins are going to be hosts, and Charlie is also going to be making a speech- "

"And they know about this right?" Ron broke in again angrily.

"They'll know by tonight, dear. And as for you not being good at speeches, that's where Hermione will help you. You will help him, won't you dear?" Molly asked Hermione, who had suddenly turned red.

"Um, sure..." she replied, not wanting to disappoint Molly, "But how will I help him?"

"Just make sure his grammar is right and that it'll entertain everyone." Molly glanced at the clock. "I better go now and get everyone up, breakfast is ready and there's lots to do today." Bustling out of the kitchen, Molly headed upstairs.

For the second time that morning, and awkward silence filled the kitchen. Hermione gazed out the windows at the willow tree swaying in the wind, while Ron stared at the table. Finally it was Hermione who broke the silence.

"So er, do you know what you want to say in your speech?"

"No, but I don't really want to think about it right now either. I'm kind of tired of hearing about wedding stuff."

"Yeah, same with me, I can't wait until it's over." Hermione then cleared her throat, looked around, and asked quietly, "So do you think than Harry will be wanting to go to Godric's Hollow soon, then?"

Ron finally looked at Hermione, and odd expression on his face. "I think so. I mean, I think he wants to go on his birthday just because...well, you know why."

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it'll also have been seventeen years to the day that his parents died."

Ron was silent. He was thinking about Hermione, and about ways he could impress her. Since the funeral, he had hid from her, something he was furious at himself for doing. _No wonder she'll never think of me as being heroic_, he had thought many times, _Harry will always be the one who represents what a hero is_.

It wasn't that Ron was jealous of Harry, he just wished that an opportunity would come in which he could be heroic, so that maybe Hermione would see him differently. He knew it was selfish to wish for a situation like this, after what had happened in the Department of Mysteries a year ago. But he hadn't really been a hero in that situation, something he wanted to have been. He still didn't feel worty of Hermione that much.

"Ron?" Hermione broke into his thoughts, "What are you thinking about?"

Ron reddened "Oh, um, the speech. I was thinking about that. Um, it'll probably take me awhile to think up something good to say, so I had better go to my room and think about it now." With that, Ron quickly stood up and strode out of the room, leaving a confused Hermione behind.

_Did he leave because of me?_ She wondered. _What did I say?_

Before she could analyze more about what had happened, Fleur flew into the kitchen, beaming.

"Ah, Good Morning Hermione!" She exclaimed happily, "Eet 'ees only a week 'unteel my wedding!"

"Great.." Hermione replied sourly.

"No Hermione," Fleur took no notice she'd said anything, " Today I want you to 'elp me clean up the garden, the 'beegest job of 'uf all. 'Eet weel take all week because 'uf the gnomes. Molly and Ginny are 'elping too. But we weel still go looking for your dresses on Wednesday." Fleur then sat down at the table to wait for her breakfast.

Hermione groaned inwardly. _If only Fleur could stay in this good mood all week, then I wouldn't mind helping out._


	4. Shopping with Ron

_A/N: Sorry for the delay once again, I've been busy, since school is starting next week and I have a lot to do. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful reviews, I love getting reviews, and I'm glad people actually like my story. Anyway, I'll just point out that the stores name in this, Evening Stars, it wasn't until I reread this that I realized that that name is similar to LotR...so ya, I wasn't trying to put that in there as a reference to LotR, something I also love. It just happened by coincidence. Anyway, enjoy!_

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**Chapter 4 - Shopping with Ron**

Both Monday and Tuesday passed with Hermione, Ginny, and Molly tidying up the garden. Fleur, who had helped for only two hours on Monday, had given up and decided to "oversee" their work. That job consisted of telling them what they were doing wrong and reading Witch Weekly. By Wednesday, the garden had been emptied of garbage and weeds, but there was still a lot of work to do. Needless to say, everyone was looking forward to getting their dresses on Wednesday.

Well, everyone except Ron. Ron would be the only male going with a four females shopping. For a whole day. And with Hermione and his mother. He shuddered at the thought. For the past two days, Ron had sat in his room, saying he was working on his speech. Which was true, but not entirely. He had also been reading comics and thinking about Hermione.

The morning of Wednesday arrived, in rain and humidity, one of those odd days of summer. The morning started off typically, with everyone eating breakfast and then doing whatever they wanted until Molly finished all the things she did daily. This could take anywhere from an hour to four hours. Usually it would take three hours. But it seemed that Molly also wanted to get out of the house, so it was at 11 o'clock that they were ready to leave.

"So this store you want to go to Fleur, it is in London?" Molly wanted to know.

"Yes, 'eet 'ees near Diagon Alley, but we must go to Gringotts first to convert our money to muggle money."

"Well then, I guess we had better all use Floo Powder to get there, as Ginny isn't old enough to apparate yet." Molly took the flowerpot filled with green powder off the fireplace mantle. "You go first Ginny."

Ginny grabbed a handful of the powdery green stuff and strode over to the fireplace. Stepping into it, she dropped the powder and yelled, "Diagon Alley!" A rush of green flames engulfed her, carrying her there.

Following her was Fleur, then Hermione, Ron, and finally Molly. They all arrived in The Leaky Cauldron.

"Now," Molly began, after making sure everyone was there, "You three wait here while Fleur and I head over to Gringotts. We shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes."

"Alright Mum, we'll be fine." Ginny replied. Ron grunted.

As Fleur and Molly headed off to Gringotts, Ginny turned excitedly to Hermione. "So, what type of dress do you want? Do you know what colour? Because I think green or blue would look great on you."

"I doubt I'll get to choose the colour let alone the dress," Hermione replied, "But I guess we can hope that Fleur will choose something good, no offense, but your dress looks pretty horrible."

"Yeah, and it'll look even worse now that she's added more bows," Ginny replied sullenly, "But lets talk about your dress, at least yours will be more normal."

Ron grunted. "Can't we talk about something else?" He complained, "Like quidditch?"

Both girls turned and glared at him. Ron suddenly wished he hadn't spoken at all.

"We'll talk about what we want," Ginny declared, "And you don't have to join the conversation. And it's your own fault you had to come with us, you could've gone on your own to buy a suit, or with Dad when Mom made him go buy a new one."

"Well, I didn't know he was going!" Ron snapped.

"Well that's your own fault," Ginny replied, turning back to continue her conversation with Hermione.

Ron grumbled. He hated clothes shopping, why did girls find looking at clothes so interesting? They were just...clothes. He grumbled again, and hoped that this trip would only at least take an hour and a half.

It was around 11:30 that Molly and Fleur returned, all their wizard money having been successfully converted into muggle money. "Alright, so are we ready to go?" Molly asked.

"It took you half an hour to get money? I thought you said it'd be fifteen minutes!" Ron burst out crankily.

"Yes I did, but there was a line," Molly replied.

"And she could've taken longer," Ginny added, "So we're actually getting a longer time to shop, so that's even better!"

"So we're ready to go then? Molly asked again, ignoring the suffering look on Ron's face. "Fleur, you know where it is, so lead the way."

Fleur led them out of The Leaky Cauldron onto the busy muggle street.Looking around, she started walking along the rightside of the street. Everyone quickly followed her, earning a few odd looks from people passing by. Fleur led them to a store just off the street Diagon Alley was on. It had a beautiful sparkly purple dress in the window. The sign above the store read **Evening Stars - Dresses and Suits for Special Occasions**. Underneath that, another sign read **50 Off - Closing Sale**.

"That dress is so pretty!" Ginny squealed, seeing the purple dress.

"I didn't realize this store was so close to Diagon Alley," Molly commented. She turned to Fleur, "And it is affordable?"

"Yes, 'eet 'ees very affordable, and there 'ees a sale going on."

"Well then, let's go in," Hermione said. She was rather excited about getting to try on these dresses, even if she ended up with one that wasn't that great.

The store wasn't that crowded when they got inside. In fact, it was empty except for a few people who worked there. Ginny looked around excitedly. "Mom, can I try on some dresses? I know I already have a dress, but can I please just try on a few?"

"After we see how your dress looks, and Fleur is satisfied with it." She turned to Ron and Hermione. "Now, I'm going to go with Fleur and Ginny to see what Ginny's dress looks like, because it's in the back where they do the alterations. While we're looking at it, you two can stay here, looking for the things you need. That way, we'll have some idea of what you want when we're done with Ginny's dress." She turned and left them standing in the middle of the store.

Hermione looked at Ron. "I'm going to go look at the dresses, so...yeah." She then proceeded to look at the rack of dresses in the front of the store. Ron stood where he was for a minute, then decided to join her.

"I didn't know you were looking for dresses," Hermione said once she saw him. "Is there something your not telling me?"

"Ha, ha," Ron replied sarcastically. "Hermione, can you help me find a suit?"

"Why can't you do it on your own?" She asked, pulling out a dark green dress.

"Because I'm probably going to choose the worst suit possible for a wedding."  
"Yeah, you probably will," Hermione answered, now looking at the green dress.

"Can you do it? I want to get out of here quickly, and if you choose it, then we won't have to stay here that long. You'll do a good job choosing it."

Hermione looked at him. "I will?"

"You're a girl, you know what guys look good in," Ron answered impatiently, "What is it with shopping that girls love about it?" He added on, going into a rant. "I mean, why do you have to look at everything in the store? Anything would look good on you, so why do you insist on taking forever to find the one thing you think is most perfect?"

Hermione stared at him. Ron started to think that she was mad, and he had insulted her by saying she took to long shopping. "I'm sor -" He began as Hermione said, "Oh alright, I'll help you find your suit, but only because of your compliment." She smiled at him and headed into the suits section.

Ron was confused. He didn't know what he had said that was complimentary. Were girls just crazy? The whole time Hermione was helping him pick a suit, he was thinking about what he had said.

"Alright, this one would be good on you." Ron stopped thinking about his compliment and looked at the black suit Hermione was showing him. "Oh, okay," he checked his watch, "And it only took you ten minutes to find it. I would've been here all day."

"We still have to see if it fits, but I think it will." Hermione grinned and turned away, slightly blushing. Ron had complimented her not once, but twice. She felt so happy.

"So you've found Ron's suit?" Molly appeared out of nowhere, holding a package. A happy-looking Fleur and disgruntled Ginny followed behind her. "So then we only need to find Hermione's dress. We'll look while Ron tries his suit on."

For the next half hour, everyone looked for a dress while Ron tried his suit on. After he was done trying it on, he had no choice but to follow the rest of the women around as they searched for a dress. They had already found many that Hermione had liked, but Fleur had hated all those and wouldn't allow Hermione to buy them. It was finally Ginny who spotted the dark green dress Hermione had seen earlier.

"How about this one?" she asked. Fleur answered at once, "I like 'eet. 'Eet is very pretty, and 'eet will go with the flowers."

Ginny turned to Hermione who looked at it again. It was a spaghetti-strap dress, with the top part being really dark green. Around the waist, the dark green part split into two pieces that went down along the side of the legs, and around the back of your legs. In between these two pieces in the front was a lighter green colour. It was shiny on the light green part. The dress was a bit medieval looking. Hermione loved it.

"Excuse me." A voice said.

Everyone turned to see who had spoken. It appeared to be one of the cashiers. "We're going to be closing in five minutes, so if you're going to buy that, then you should now."

Hermione looked at the gown again, and checked the size. It was her size. It would fit, it should anyway. She turned back to the cashier. "Alright, I'm going to buy this."

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked, "You haven't tried it on."

"I will when we get home, and it is my size, so it should fit."

Hermione went to make her purchase, as did Molly with Ron's suit and Ginny's bridesmaid dress. They then headed back to The Leaky Cauldron, so that they could floo home in time for dinner, Ron celebrating the whole time, as he had survived an afternoon of shopping.

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_Hehe, no, you won't see Hermione in her dress until the wedding...Anyway, I hope I did a good job of describing the dress, I hate describing clothing...anyway, please R&R!_


	5. The Wedding Ceremony

_A/N: Alright, so I know its been nearly three months since my last chapter update. I am so sorry about this, it's just been so hard to write, what with my stupid school trying to kill me again this year by giving me the homework subjects in one semester (English, Math, Science and Hostory...ugh). Anyhow, so here's the fifth chapter, I hope everyone enjoys it, now that I reread it I don't think it's that great, but that's what I normally think when I reread my own work. Oh yeah, and I'm sorry I didn't go into great description about Hermione wearing her dress like I said I would, but I decided I'd rather put that in for the reception part. Anyways, please R&R!_

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**Chapter 5 - The Wedding Ceremony**

"Hey, anyone home?"

A dark-haired teen ambled in through the Weasley's front door, his green eyes glinting happily.

"Harry!" Both Hermione and Ginny exclaimed, running over to hug him.

"Er, I'm guessing you're happy to see me then?" Harry said, a bit suprised his visit had warranted this kind of welcome.

"Oh yes," Hermione began, "Come on, you can help us put the flowers together."

"Oh, well, it's uh, great to see you two, and I'd uh, really like to help, but I uh, just remembered," Harry stuttered, "That uh - I have stuff to do!"

"Oh no you don't!" Ginny exclaimed, "You're helping us!" And with that both girls dragged him outside to help with the flowers.

"So where is everyone?" A disgruntled Harry asked ten minutes later, his fingers already in bandages from holding the roses in the wrong places. "Were they all lucky enough to escape?"

"Ha. Ha." Ginny muttered sarcastically, "It's their fault you're stuck doing this, if they had helped us we would've been done awhile ago. So go beat them later or something."

Harry laughed, and after watching Ginny for a few moments, continued working, a bit of a sad look in his eyes.

"So where is everyone anyway?" He asked, tying a ribbon around a boquet of pink roses.

"Well, Bill, Mr. Weasley, and the twins are at their jobs right now, even though it's a Saturday. Seems they'd rather slave away under paperwork than flowers," Hermione answered resentfully. "And Molly and Fleur are off shopping for something they desperately need for tomorrow, and Ron -!" Hermione stopped in mid-sentence, blushing a little, "Um, he's working on his speech, I think, either that or he's playing Quidditch or something with Charlie." She began to quickly wrap ribbons around the roses she was putting together, hoping no one had seen her blush. Of course, both Harry and Ginny had. Ginny rolled her eyes, wondering why Hermione couldn't just talk to her brother, and why she even liked him anyway. Harry just got annoyed that his two friends kept putting him through this drama production. He decided that later he would speak with both of them about it. Maybe then this stupid business would stop, he though, although it could be amusing at times.

"And Percy...is he coming to the wedding?" Harry hadn't heard about him for awhile, so he wanted to know if anything had changed with him.

"No," Ginny said briskly, "And you better not mention him. Mom still gets upset when she hears his name."

"Alright," Harry said, deciding to change the subject, "So do you want to hear about what happened to Dudley over the summer?"

For the next few hours, the three teens continued working, talking and laughing as they did this. Finally they were done. The backyard looked beautiful, with a wide variety of flowers everywhere. Hermione sighed looking at it. She hoped that Fleur would have an amazing wedding tomorrow. With that thought in her head, she turned and headed into the house with Harry and Ginny.

The morning of the wedding was chaos. People were rushing around, making sure nothing was going to go wrong. The twins were fooling around on the organ, making scary vampire music, must to the consternation of Molly and Fleur. Fleur was also running through the house the whole morning, trying to keep Bill away from her at all costs, she was terrified he's see her wearing her dress before the wedding. So it was quite a suprise to Hermione that everyone made it to the ceremony in one piece.

The ceremony began at 5:30pm that afternoon. It was a good day for a wedding, not too hot or too cold, and the sun was out. As everyone was getting settled in their seats, Hermione hurried over to sit next to Harry, who was sitting near the front.

"Have you seen Ron?" Harry asked as she sat down, "I haven't seen him since I got here."

"You know, I haven't see him in awhile either," Hermione frowned, suddenly feeling worried, "Do you think something's wrong?"

"Well-" Harry began, just as Ron stumbled out of nowhere and sat down. "Hey guys," He said, "Anything going on?"

"Where have you been?" Hermione demanded as Harry said at the same time "Thanks for greeting me this whole day I've been here."

"Oh, um, sorry," Ron said, sounding a bit ashamed, "I was just working on my speech all day and last night, I actually got really into it, and I can't wait for you two to hear it, I think it sounds pretty good, tell me exactly what you think after you hear it."

"Well," Hermione began, suprised that Ron had got all into writing a speech, "I can't wait to hear it, you'll do a good job, you do most of the time." Hermione instantly regretted her words, and kicked herself over how stupid they sounded. Ron looked away, blushing but looking immensly pleased with himself. Harry also looked away, trying not to laugh. After the blushing had subsided, Ron looked at Hermione again. Noticing her dress, he began, "You look, uh, very, uh- "

"Oh it's starting!" Hermione burst out as the wedding march began. Ron sank back, feeling annoyed.

Down the aisle came the flower girl, one of Fleur's relatives who Hermione didn't know. But she couldn't help squealing, "Aw, she's so cute!" This caused both boys to throw her a weird look for her sudden outburst. Hermione was suprised by it too, but she supposed that maybe weddings just did that to you.

Next the bridesmaids came walking down the aisle. Ginny looked as if she had swallowed something unpleasant, her dress really wasn't the most flattering thing, but she smiled for Bill's sake. Hermione noticed Harry began to watch the wedding with more interest now and she smiled to herself, but she also felt sad for Harry. The Dark Lord had taken so much from him...but she wouldn't think of that now, today was a happy day.

A hush descended upon the crowd, and everyone stood up to watch the bride go down the aisle. Fleur walked down it gracefully, looking absolutely beautiful in a white, strapless dress with a poofy train and sparkles lining the seams of the dress. Even though both Fleur and Hermione didn't really get along, Hermione couldn't help staring admiringly at Fleur, she looked exactly as the perfect bride should. Fleur finally reached the altar, and the music ceased. The minister began his sermon.

Hermione had heard this sermon a million times from watching muggle TV, she she didn't really pay attention to what was being said. Instead she found herself wondering if she would ever get married, if she'd even want to. Well, she knew she would like to get married, but if it didn't happen, it wouldn't be a big deal for her. Hermione decided that all she at least wanted from life was one real, true, amazing love in her life, even if it did or did not end in marriage.

"You may now kiss the bride."

These words drove Hermione from her thoughts as she watched Bill kiss Fleur, both of them looking joyously happy. She couldn't stop herself from smiling. Of course, that smile turned into laughter when a few seconds later Fred and George yelled "GET A ROOM!" much to the embarrassment of the newlyweds and the twins mother. The rest of the guests found it quite amusing though. After this outburst, the newlyweds quickly headed into the house, where the appetizers were being served for the reception. The guests all followed them inside, leaving the grooms family, and Harry and Hermione to quickly set up the tables for the main course that was to be served outside. Hermione turned to Ron as all the guests left, a smile still on her face. "Well, that was certainly, special. I guess we better start setting up then, haven't we?"

Ron smiled back, "Yeah, I guess we should." As they set up, Ron couldn't help thinking about that smile, and what he could do to make it happen again.

* * *

_Gosh, I never knew I could write such a corny chapter ending..._


End file.
